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Apple Studio Display v. LG 5K
- Thread starter andrewj
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I called Apple and they said they don’t have any info beyond what’s on the website yet.
Yes. The M1 Max has been established to be able to run three dual-tile 5K displays, plus a fourth external display via HDMI.
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I'm really surprised that the LG's lack of HDCP support doesn't come up more often. While I don't watch iTunes/TV purchased movies on my mac often, the fact that you simply can't via the LG display is frankly shocking. Because this is rarely mentioned, I missed this point when I purchased my LG in November. I contacted Apple Support to confirm whether the Studio Display supports HDCP and they were unable to tell me. Good grief.
The official specifications from LG indicate that it does support HDCP. I haven't tried to watch any HDCP-protected content as far as I know so I can't verify it, but looking up HDCP errors on the internet gives me the impression that it's a bit finicky and doing something as simple as rebooting a device with the HDMI cable unplugged and then plugging it back in can resolve it. Some people reported having to do this once every few months.
What a pain... just another case where people trying to do things the right and legal way are punished, while people taking the illegal route don't have to put up with that nonsense.
Apple Studio Display review: An excellent monitor at a steep price
Apple's new Studio Display is an extremely color accurate IPS LCD with a bunch of unique features and exceptional build quality. But with a price tag of $1,600, you really have to value those extra features. For Apple, this is a missed opportunity to give the creative community a smaller, more...
m.dpreview.com
Never owned the LG but I did use an iMac 5K previously. My ASD is nano. To my eyes the ASD is clearly brighter than the iMac 5K panel. Furthermore The Tech Chap on YouTube measured peak brightness at 686 nits. I feel this fact is being super underreported in initial reviews.
Ok, I'm an owner of the LG 5K and bought a Studio Display today. I've had it on my desk for an hour. Here's what I see compared to my LG 5K. If you don't have a 5K, this might not look like a glowing review, I'm actually relatively happy.
Pros
The big test I had for it was whether the "built-in iPad" would provide Bluetooth to my devices like mice. If it did, I could move the input cable between the two machines and my keyboard and mouse would follow. Apple didn't do this. Maybe they plan to at some future date, maybe they haven't thought about it and never will.
The USB-C dongle I have hanging off the back of the monitor has one gig ethernet port and four USB-A ports. Everything works as it should. When I move the monitor input cable between machines, the hardwire ethernet appears on the respective machine. The keyboard is plugged into the dongle and also follows the screen. No different than the LG 5K. I just wish they thought through this problem with the mouse.
Verdict
If you have a 5K, I'd keep it. If you don't have a 5K, reload the web page at Apple every day until you can buy one. If you are broke, go to eBay and buy a 5K from someone who just upgraded. I do wish that Apple would provide some visibility on what they are going to do with the embedded iPad. It would make a perfect Time Machine hub, for instance. I'd like to see a built-in gig ethernet port on the monitor that does what my dongle does. If Amazon can sell the dongle for $15 with four USB-A ports, Apple can build this in for less than half that. Heck, make us smile and expose those USB-A ports too! (Jonny is gone, he won't mind...)
Pros
- Center Stage is fun. It follows you a bit, it has bokeh mode. Yay! Fun!
- The build quality is excellent. It doesn't feel like an odd tug of a cable is going to break the motherboard or cable connector like on the 5K. This is easily solved by the aluminum case. Big win for reliability.
- Color and brightness are awesome.
- It has a built-in iPad that will rock the desktop someday.
- Price. That and the price are enough to disappoint. But I'm used to buying 5Ks on eBay for $600. An honest comparison on price (new vs new) and it's definitely worth the extra few hundred to get the Apple over the LG.
- The stand. I have one 14" MBP M1 on either side of the display. The LG could be adjusted to a height that matched the bottom of either screen, not so with this stand. It's not height adjustable.
- I'm torn on whether to splurge on a monitor arm and the VESA mount.
- If I get the VESA and want to sell it later, the number of people that want it goes waaaaay down.
- The non-VESA adjustable mount is too much money for a poorly adjustable arm.
- The built-in iPad is invisible and does nothing except act like an embedded system. Everyone knows that.
The big test I had for it was whether the "built-in iPad" would provide Bluetooth to my devices like mice. If it did, I could move the input cable between the two machines and my keyboard and mouse would follow. Apple didn't do this. Maybe they plan to at some future date, maybe they haven't thought about it and never will.
The USB-C dongle I have hanging off the back of the monitor has one gig ethernet port and four USB-A ports. Everything works as it should. When I move the monitor input cable between machines, the hardwire ethernet appears on the respective machine. The keyboard is plugged into the dongle and also follows the screen. No different than the LG 5K. I just wish they thought through this problem with the mouse.
Verdict
If you have a 5K, I'd keep it. If you don't have a 5K, reload the web page at Apple every day until you can buy one. If you are broke, go to eBay and buy a 5K from someone who just upgraded. I do wish that Apple would provide some visibility on what they are going to do with the embedded iPad. It would make a perfect Time Machine hub, for instance. I'd like to see a built-in gig ethernet port on the monitor that does what my dongle does. If Amazon can sell the dongle for $15 with four USB-A ports, Apple can build this in for less than half that. Heck, make us smile and expose those USB-A ports too! (Jonny is gone, he won't mind...)
Good review but the A13 is to drive the existing features of the monitor: Center Stage, Speakers, USB Hub, True Tone, Ambient Light Sensor, etc. etc. Because this monitor also supports Intel machines which lack these features natively. There will not be Bluetooth, WiFi, etc. 'enabled' because the hardware is not there. Just because it has an A13 doesn't mean that it's an iPad. Just because there is iOS inside doesn't mean that you can install an iPad app to it and run it natively with the monitor itself. The HomePod and Apple TV also have recent A series chip inside but it doesn't mean that Apple will turn it to another product. Just don't dream about it.
But what's good about the A13 and iOS is that we can be sure that the software support will be mature and there will be a lot of updates to come. Just like the big HomePod is still receiving the latest iOS update 15.4.1 after being discontinued for a year.
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Dare to dream. Like I said, the dongle that I bought from Amazon (after everyone's markup) was $15. Adding the hardware won't add significant costs to the monitor. And if the Studio Display hardware doesn't exist in the form that it can't handle additional tasks, that's fine, but I'd rather just keep my 5K until it does.
Thanks, this was a very useful write-up. My question is how do you find the uniformity of the Studio Display vis-a-vis the Ultrafine 5K? I was not very impressed by the lighting and colour uniformity of the Ultrafine 5K I saw, although it is all panel lottery as we know. Do you find the Studio Display to be more uniform across the screen, in terms of both lighting and colour? The ones I saw in Apple Stores and other retail shops were more or less uniform, but still pretty much having the IPS edge-lit limitations.
These are really interesting questions. I have to admit I didn't think about the two screens with the concept of uniformity in mind, but more like the overall contrast. In hindsight, I think I was conflating contrast and brightness, it seems like they are both better. And to your question, I think uniformity is better, but I'd need to plug in the 5K again to be sure.
As a programmer, my usage is more about textual than graphical information. If I can get dozens of windows open with small fonts, I'm more productive because I'm not fishing around for tabs or covered windows when comparing windows or looking at reference docs and then back to the task at hand.
I generally run the screens at resolutions that only selectable with third party software. I have the Studio Display set @5120x2880, the 14" MBP @3024x1890 and no changes to font sizes. I use the Screen Zoom function in Accessibility quite a bit, like right now as I type in this thread response box. If you can imagine the response box zoomed to the size of the MBP 14", that's what I'm looking at right now. I don't even realize I do it any more. The 14" MBP M1 has almost 6MP, so I'm not losing much at all when I pick it up and go to a cafe.
Another update on this review. Following up this morning on @TheBigApple2006's inquiry about uniformity and color, I plugged in my old 5K this morning. Apologies for not using the correct terminology here, but I can definitely say that the color uniformity from a given viewing angle is better on the Studio Monitor.
I don't think this is because of the backlight, but to do with the panel. It's a big panel and I have it situated at arm's length. So if the center of the screen is at a 0º viewing angle, the left and right edges might be at 20º. This causes the edges to look oh-so-slightly darker and have color distortion as a result. If I move my head over to one of the sides to create a 0º viewing angle at the edge, the distortion goes away.
None of this happens on the Studio Display, so I presume it has a wider viewing angle through a better panel than the 5K is using.
Regarding the A13 in the display making Center Stage work with PCs, I'd think if that was the case that Microsoft Teams (macOS version) would work with it automatically and it seems to not make a difference there. Maybe I am "holding it wrong", but FaceTime works as expected. I haven't looked to see if videoconference apps need to support Center Stage through API calls, but if that's true, not sure how the Studio Display would ever be supported by non-macOS platforms.
After putting the 5K back on my desk and adjusting the height back up, I'm much happier with the height. I could go back to putting some books under the monitor, but I really don't think I should have to do that on such an expensive centerpiece of my desk.
I still think the Studio Display is a great monitor that I'd always recommend over the 5K for an initial purchase. I don't know that I would replace a working 5K with it except as a desktop refresh with discretionary funds. The only modification I would add is if someone is doing gamut-sensitive color work, in which case they probably don't have a 5K to begin with and the initial purchase recommendation is especially true – now they can have both!
I don't think this is because of the backlight, but to do with the panel. It's a big panel and I have it situated at arm's length. So if the center of the screen is at a 0º viewing angle, the left and right edges might be at 20º. This causes the edges to look oh-so-slightly darker and have color distortion as a result. If I move my head over to one of the sides to create a 0º viewing angle at the edge, the distortion goes away.
None of this happens on the Studio Display, so I presume it has a wider viewing angle through a better panel than the 5K is using.
Regarding the A13 in the display making Center Stage work with PCs, I'd think if that was the case that Microsoft Teams (macOS version) would work with it automatically and it seems to not make a difference there. Maybe I am "holding it wrong", but FaceTime works as expected. I haven't looked to see if videoconference apps need to support Center Stage through API calls, but if that's true, not sure how the Studio Display would ever be supported by non-macOS platforms.
After putting the 5K back on my desk and adjusting the height back up, I'm much happier with the height. I could go back to putting some books under the monitor, but I really don't think I should have to do that on such an expensive centerpiece of my desk.
I still think the Studio Display is a great monitor that I'd always recommend over the 5K for an initial purchase. I don't know that I would replace a working 5K with it except as a desktop refresh with discretionary funds. The only modification I would add is if someone is doing gamut-sensitive color work, in which case they probably don't have a 5K to begin with and the initial purchase recommendation is especially true – now they can have both!
You are evaluating viewing angles not panel uniformity. I would imagine the better angles are due to the better glass on the ASD vs what I believe is plastic on the LG, not the panel itself. Having said that, the panel itself may have a better viewing angle, but since the cover is not the same in both monitors, it would be difficult to know.
To evaluate the uniformity of the panels, use a gray screen. You will see different shaded bars (or sometimes even blobs) if the screen is not perfectly uniform. In theory, a darker bar would produce a darker color. etc. In practice, both of these monitors would likely have good enough uniformity for it to not matter. One thing to keep in mind while doing this, panel variation is a thing and two different copies of the same screen could (and likely will) show different levels of uniformity.
Ah, thank you for explaining the difference! That's very interesting about the cover and how it makes a difference, wouldn't surprise me at all.
I've repackaged the ASD at this point, going to sell it to someone or return it in the next few days, so I won't be able to check it with the technique you provided. I'll know how to do that next time though.
I bought one from Apple's website but it won't be here for another two months. Not sure if that's the chip shortage at play or if demand is just that high. I was originally going to get the VESA mount version but decided not to mess around with other stands and begrudgingly paid the extra money for the adjustable stand version. I have an Apple Cinema Display that must be 10-20 years old now (it still has the FireWire 800 connector option) and it's going strong. If the Apple Studio display keeps the same build quality, it'll last.
I plan to use it alongside an LG 5K monitor. What I am most excited about is the lack of "memory" that has been reported (different from burn-in, but sort of similar). For my 2015 iMac and my LG (revision A, I believe), both of which reportedly use the same panels, desktop icons, menu bars, and window elements that stay on screen for a few minutes will take a few minutes to fully fade away when changing what's on screen. It's most noticeable when they've been replaced by black; not really noticeable with white.
Additionally, my 2015 iMac suffers pretty badly from the pink edges around the screen. People said this is due to some tape or adhesive aging. Reportedly it was fixed in the 2017 model year. The LG isn't showing this but since it's a revision A I'm guessing it's just a matter of time. Hopefully that's also something that the Studio display will never suffer from.
I plan to use it alongside an LG 5K monitor. What I am most excited about is the lack of "memory" that has been reported (different from burn-in, but sort of similar). For my 2015 iMac and my LG (revision A, I believe), both of which reportedly use the same panels, desktop icons, menu bars, and window elements that stay on screen for a few minutes will take a few minutes to fully fade away when changing what's on screen. It's most noticeable when they've been replaced by black; not really noticeable with white.
Additionally, my 2015 iMac suffers pretty badly from the pink edges around the screen. People said this is due to some tape or adhesive aging. Reportedly it was fixed in the 2017 model year. The LG isn't showing this but since it's a revision A I'm guessing it's just a matter of time. Hopefully that's also something that the Studio display will never suffer from.
Regarding HDCP. I just got the Apple Studio Display and tried watching a movie in the TV app and got a warning about HDCP and the video was just black. I just updated to the latest firmware (67.1 in System Info??) and now I am able to watch the same content. So, it looks like HDCP is supported with the firmware update.
Still on the fence about pulling the trigger. Can other Studio Display owners confirm that playing HDCP content (TV App downloads, Disney+, Netflix etc) on the ASD is not an issue. As of now, the only thing that plays on my LG UltraFine 5K without a hitch is tv+ content.
I have to confirm that the Studio Display is a much better monitor than the LG Ultrafine.
My work let me take home an LG Ultrafine 5K that wasn't being used for this weekend. I've had it plugged into my 2021 Macbook Pro 14 and what I can't get over is how much worse the color quality is when compared to the built-in display on my 2015 iMac 5K. It has a slight green tint to it which drives me crazy. There's subtle color banding in greyscale gradients which is not present on the iMac.
No matter how I try to adjust the white point and color on the LG, it just doesn't look as good. Eventually I got frustrated and went back to using my 2015 iMac.
Meanwhile I've used the Studio Display (I don't own one yet, order is in progress and won't be here for a bit) and the quality is at least as good as the panel in my 2015 iMac, probably better. For me the quality difference is an absolute no-brainer and it's definitely worth the extra money to go with the Studio Display.
My work let me take home an LG Ultrafine 5K that wasn't being used for this weekend. I've had it plugged into my 2021 Macbook Pro 14 and what I can't get over is how much worse the color quality is when compared to the built-in display on my 2015 iMac 5K. It has a slight green tint to it which drives me crazy. There's subtle color banding in greyscale gradients which is not present on the iMac.
No matter how I try to adjust the white point and color on the LG, it just doesn't look as good. Eventually I got frustrated and went back to using my 2015 iMac.
Meanwhile I've used the Studio Display (I don't own one yet, order is in progress and won't be here for a bit) and the quality is at least as good as the panel in my 2015 iMac, probably better. For me the quality difference is an absolute no-brainer and it's definitely worth the extra money to go with the Studio Display.
Did you calibrate it?
There really is no point in comparing a non-calibrated screen to a factory calibrated one.